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International Fish and Chips sounds good to me, it should be tied somehow to the original Fish & Chips topic.
Chips in the Greek isles tend to be rather good being cooked in Olive oil, but watch out for their prices ! Two years ago we took lunch at a small quayside restraunt in southern Santorini. Red Snapper was displayed outside ,prices were not shown, red snapper is a relative tastless fish,it was presented on the bone.We were charged $35 US just for the fish. At the supermarket, snapper is probably the cheapest fish you can buy ! So check prices ! Likewise in Rhodes, on a very hot afternoon in the town square, we were encouraged to sit in a shaded area and order drinks . We ordered fresh orange juice, oranges were in abundance .When it came,we were also given the bill,fortunately we had not tasted the drink prior to glooking at the bill, they wanted $24US for two orange juices ! We didn't participate !
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In France it's compulsory for restaurants to display their prices outside, so you don't get stung like that. However it is the custom over there to charge more for drinks consumed at outside table cafes than for ones taken at the bar - you have to pay to watch the world go by!
Hayley - greasy chips? Ugh! Wait to you get to my age and the indigestion hits you just by looking at greasy chips! LOL!
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Gee and we were about to put an order in for fish,chips and scraps at the local chippy with a tub of mushy peas.
Ahhhhhhhhhh!
William R and Lady G
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You also pay more over here for eating and drinking inside at these fancy coffee shops.
I've never understood the popularity of scraps, what is it about them that people like?
Martin ~
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Scraps, would that be the cooked bits of batter that don't adhere to the fish ? Chippies used to give those away, no charge.
Martin,If you do get around to listing comparative qualities of Fish and Chips, you could classify types of fish by size, freshness, batter quality,colour and thickness, and crispness,aroma , and price,potato variety too ! Animal and vegetable cooking fats impart differing qualities,so,an assessment of cooking oils should probably be included,and of course general shop cleanliness There is a UK Fish and Chip friers federation site,perhaps that could be of use . What would be the standard for comparison, fish and chips can vary enormously yet still be very good,must admit though that standards have declined for most shops ,(in my opinion), but quality F&C can be found offering one of the tastiest meals arounnd !
Perhaps it could be simplified., good size fish,greasy/non greasy , crisp/ not crisp etc.
Alan M.
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In my opinion one reason for the decline in the quality of fish and chips in general is that folk are not prepared to wait patiently for them to be cooked and instead expect an almost instant response to their order.
Now during the war and after one of the main delights in Bamber Bridge was waiting in a long queue at Battersby's Fish and Chip shop in all weathers-a queue often extending way down Station Rd.
The sheer joy in the sounds of the crackling as a fresh batch of chips was lowered and the aroma wafting from other people's packages as they emerged was out of this world and worth any wait.
The chip shop was an oasis of light and warmth(feeling poetical now)
The skill with which Mrs Battersby dipped the fish in batter was very memorable.Great fun on the way home poking your finger through the paper to extract a chip!
Ask for scraps and you got a lovely pile of batter bits as a bonus.
Lady G
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I think it's more to do with tastes changing. Not ours but the younger generations. Curries KFC and Big Macs not to mention Pizza Hut and Chinese/Indian/Turkish. When I were a lad living in me parents' shoe box on in the gutter all there were wer' Fission Chips. Believe it or not passing through Malia in Crete, there were fish and chip signs galore. Mercifully we did pass through it rather quickly to get to Sisi.
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[  ]Hope you had a great time in Crete Noel. I had to smile when I saw what you said about all the fish and chip signs there, when I was in Thailand a few years ago we found a cafe run by an ex-Liverpudlian called Mac, who specialized in pie and chips, sausage and chips, pie and mash, sausage and mash, and believe me the place was packed with American, English, and Aussies, theres nowt like pie and mash wi some good gravy, eh lad?[  ][ ][ ]
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Thanks Sandieh, wifeYhad a plate of "mixed fish" in Crete, I'm never sure what you get there as they eat squid, which looked like a white rubber tube, fried in batter, and octopus which has all the little suction pads still on. One thing on the plate looked just like a baby octopus whole, with it's limbs still attached, covered in crspy batter. The only good thing about it was the crispy batter. Poor little thing, I wish they'd left it alone. Even the prowling cat wouldn't touch it.
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I like squid and octopus, but they shouldn't catch the little ones - how are they going to get to breeding size to replenish the stocks if fishermen keep netting the babies?
Sorry, Bill H and Lady G - I rarely have chip shop chips these days. They smell lovely, but I pay for it later with indigestion. Middle age, eh? LOL!
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